Always Beautiful
by Im-AcErBiC
Summary: The day Lilly gets her driver's license, she is in a minor hit-and-run accident, and the trauma hits her hard. Can Oliver help her get over it?


**Always Beautiful**

**A/N:** I came up with this like, _right_ as I got up this morning. I haven't read a HM fic exactly like this, and I was inspired, so here you go!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Hannah Montana.

**Summary:** The day Lilly gets her driver's license, she is in a minor accident, and the trauma hits her hard. Can Oliver help her get over it?

"Smile, and look at the butterfly," the scraggly, bored-looking man said.

Lilly Truscott smiled as brightly as she could muster, for today, she truly did have a reason to smile. She smiled even through the bright glare of the camera, and got up as they had instructed her.

"Okay, the card's gonna take a few minutes to process. You can go wait in the waiting area 'til it's done and we'll call you up," the man who had taken her picture told her.

Lilly nodded, and shakily walked back to her chair. She was shaking out of excitement, not nerves. Okay, maybe some of it was nerves.

"You did great! You're about five minutes away from absolute freedom," her best friend since pre-K, Oliver Oken told her.

Her other best friend Miley Stewart, who just so happened to double as the world's most famous teen pop sensation Hannah Montana, had to be at a CD signing, and couldn't be at the DMV with Lilly and Oliver.

"I know! I can't wait!" Lilly exclaimed in reply to Oliver, who absentmindedly grabbed Lilly's hand in anticipation, holding it as though he was protecting her from something.

Every time Oliver did this, which was pretty darn often lately, every part of her except the hand he was holding would tense up, and she would always attribute it to something else.

"What's wrong?" Oliver asked, not letting go of her hand.

"I'm just nervous I guess," Lilly lied, finding such an easy solution.

She felt her face grow hot, and she had no clue why. Did she like Oliver in a way that was not customary for one best friend to feel for another? Is that what it meant? Lilly really didn't know, but it happened every time he grabbed her hand like this.

It's not that it made Lilly uncomfortable. On the contrary, it made her feel elated when he cared enough to hold her hand. Maybe she was afraid it would stir up those more-than-a-friend feelings Lilly had dreaded for so long.

For some reason, she was always scared she'd end up with Oliver. Forget why she was _afraid_ of it, Lilly wondered why she considered it at all. Why would she, if those more-than-a-friend feelings were not already there?

Lilly chewed her lip thoughtfully. Had she already fallen for Oliver? What other explanation could there be for her body tensing up and her face flushing like a stop sign?

"It's okay, I'm here," Oliver replied, reaching a hand around to drape over her shoulder.

Lilly closed her eyes and leaned into him. She noted that these were involuntary movements.

"Lilly Truscott! Your card is ready!" Came a voice from the workstation ahead. The conveyer of the voice slapped the card on the counter.

Lilly clenched her teeth at having to let go of Oliver so suddenly, but she did so anyway, as not to cause suspicion.

She gaited up to the counter and took the card, grimacing at her picture.

"Ew," she frowned, she showed it to Oliver self-consciously, wondering what he would say.

He surveyed the card, and shrugged, not knowing what she was referring to.

Lilly snatched the card back to look at it once more, before showing it to Oliver again.

"That is a horrible picture!" Lilly whined, trying to hide her face and show him the card at the same time.

He gently placed his hand behind hers to hold the card steady, so he could look at it properly. He snorted with laughter.

Lilly looked genuinely hurt at his insensitivity, at least until he spoke.

"I think you're insane. You look beautiful in that picture. You're always beautiful," Oliver told her, looking as serious as ever. Lilly smiled slightly. She didn't believe him, but she didn't tell him that. She was too happy at that moment.

"Well, I should probably be getting home," Lilly sighed, not wanting to part with him.

"Cool. Can you drop me off?" Oliver asked casually, as though he and Lilly had not just had a 'moment'. Lilly furrowed her eyebrows.

"We walked here," Lilly commented, standing akimbo. Oliver gave her a sneaky smile and motioned for the door of the DMV.

Lilly followed him, not knowing what to expect when she walked outside, but needless to say, she was shocked.

Lilly saw a shiny, new sky-blue Ford Explorer parked directly in front of the building, a bright red bow situated directly in the center of the hood, her mother standing at the driver's side door, smiling brightly.

"Surprise!" She exclaimed wackily. Lilly squealed and darted towards her mother, arms wide open, engulfing her in a hug.

"Thank you so much!" The blonde teenager cried, trying to lean her head back a bit to get a good look at the vehicle.

"You're so welcome!" Heather teased, letting her daughter go reluctantly.

Lilly threw a knowing glance back to Oliver who simply shrugged.

"You knew about this, didn't you?" She asked him, faking an agitated expression.

"The whole time," Oliver replied proudly, as though it were an impressive feat. To Lilly, it was.

"Every time I get Miley something awesome for her birthday, you go tell her what it is and spoil it. You choose now to keep your mouth shut?!" Lilly argued playfully, running to tackle Oliver to the pavement, temporarily forgetting her mother was in the vicinity.

"Seeing the look on your face was important to me!" Oliver responded, catching Lilly's eye. She momentarily stopped trying to wrestle him to the ground and simply gazed into his eyes.

Her happiness was important to him? Why did that sound so wonderful to Lilly? She knew he cared for her, and she knew he wanted her to be happy. But hearing him say it was so...different. It made her feel as though he had those oh-so-impending more-than-a-friend feelings for her, too. The same feelings she was discovering that she had for him.

Just as she thought she might lean in and kiss him, her mother interrupted the moment.

"The keys are in it! I've got some things to do in town. Why don't you take Oliver home and come back to pick me up?" Heather suggested, not realizing what she had just prevented.

"Uh...um...okay...I-I can do that," Lilly stuttered, shuffling away from Oliver and towards her new truck.

Heather hugged Lilly before she got into the truck, before walking quickly to her next destination. Oliver climbed in beside Lilly, fidgeting with the radio, before getting his hand slapped away.

"Nu uh. This is _my_ truck. I control the radio, just like you do in your car," Lilly told him without sparing him a glance, before excitedly starting it up. Oliver faked a hurt look and sat back in his seat.

Lilly and Oliver joked all the way back to his house, which was teetering on ten minutes away. When Lilly pulled into his driveway, the awkward silence she knew was coming fell over them like a blanket. Lilly sucked on her teeth for a few seconds, desperate for some comforting noise.

"Well...thanks for the lift," Oliver told her. Lilly giggled for no reason.

"You're welcome," she replied, in her signature bubbly voice.

Oliver appeared to be debating something in his mind and portraying the battle with his hands, edging them closer to Lilly, but then pulling them back to his lap. She would look from his hands to his face, trying not to think too much about what he was intending to do. It wasn't really working for her.

Then, just as suddenly as the thoughts washed over her, he leaned across the seat and his lips made contact with the soft skin of her cheek, just in front of her ear. Lilly leaned forward very gently, unsure of what to do. Oliver felt Lilly's hair trickle over his nose as she did so, before he pulled away with a goofy grin.

He struggled with the door handle through his embarrassment, to which she hid a grin.

"See ya," he said, finally opening the door. All she could do was smile at him, as he exited the vehicle. She watched as he inched toward his house, before finally breaking her eyes free and backing out of the driveway. Afterwards, she pulled forward slowly.

He swirled around her mind like a tornado, ricocheting back and forth, causing her mind to wander and lose sight of what was in front of her.

She had no idea where she was even going or how fast she was moving. She never saw the silver Dodge Durango pull out in front of her from the right of the intersection.

The only thing on her that was working was her ears, and the only thing she heard was Oliver screaming her name and a loud crash that seemed to shake everything around her.

One thing was certain. The collision was severe enough to wake Lilly from her reverie, and suddenly the moment became more real than Lilly had hoped.

The second she leaned forward far enough to see the damage to the front of her truck and the car that had pulled out in front of her, she started screaming as loud as her lungs and vocal cords would allow.

This caused Oliver to think Lilly was gravely hurt, so his legs moved faster than ever they had before toward Lilly's slightly mangled truck. He found her flailing in the front seat extremely upset, but seemingly unharmed.

"Are you alright?!" He asked without a thought, struggling to get the door open and longing to carry her from the painful scene. He climbed in beside her, to find tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Oh my God, Oliver! What just happened?!" Lilly yelled, in a strangled voice.

"You just hit a car! Are you alright?!" He asked again, receiving a vigorous head-shake in reply.

"No," Lilly said quietly, due to the massive amounts of crying she was about to do. She leaned into his shoulder and sobbed loudly for about a second, before she heard Oliver grunt in exasperation.

"What an asshole! It was his fault!" He yelled, causing Lilly to lift her head and peer out of the windshield.

The car she had hit was nowhere to be found. The only thing evident of that car's existence were tire tread marks where it had once stood.

"It was his fault?" Lilly asked through tears, knowing it wasn't true.

"Yeah! He pulled right out in front of you," Oliver informed her in a comforting manner, resting his chin atop her head.

"No, Oliver...I-It was my fault. I wasn't paying attention...I was thinking about someone-something else..." she admitted, not wanting him to know that she was thinking about him when it happened.

"Lils, he didn't stop at the stop sign. It wasn't your fault..." Oliver said forcefully, wanting her to forget this day ever happened.

"Okay," she replied softly, relieved that she was in the clear. She still felt a bit guilty about not paying attention.

Oliver used his house phone to call Lilly's mom, and Heather was soon escorted to the site, along with the police. When Heather saw the crash, she lost control and broke down, just as Lilly had done. She hugged her daughter tightly and cried with her, just wanting to comfort Lilly.

While the police surveyed the damage and questioned Heather about the truck, as she _had_ bought it, Oliver and Lilly stood to the side. Lilly was still trying to recover from the weeping, and a few light sniffles were heard here and there. She shook from fear and cowered close to Oliver, as he held her firmly around the stomach.

The sky portrayed a light gray color, as storm clouds rolled in quickly. A light rain began to fall...a sure-fire difference from the blue, sunny sky they had seen in the DMV parking lot.

"You know, I figured something out today," Lilly said slowly and cautiously.

"What's that?" Oliver responded attentively, not wanting her out of his sight.

"Nobody has forever to do the things they want to do. Forever doesn't really exist...That's why you have to do the important things before your time is up," she rambled, hoping he would catch on. He did not.

"Lil, what are you talking about? Your time isn't up," Oliver told her, turning to look at her fully.

"But that accident made me realize that it could all be over at any second," Lilly stated, looking down at the ground before biting her lip gently.

"Lilly-" he tried to reason, but she wouldn't let him finish.

"Oliver...all I'm saying is that you need to let the people you love know you care about them. You need to tell people the things you want them to know, but don't want to tell them. I figured out something at the DMV earlier," Lilly attempted to enlighten him, but all it did was make him more confused.

"What? What do you mean?" Oliver questioned her, hearing a sigh escape her lips.

"There's something I need to tell you. You need to know...but I'm scared. Regardless of the limited amount of time we have here, I'm still afraid to say it," she explained further. Oliver smiled softly.

"You can tell me anything. I'll always be here for you no matter what you say. You can't get rid of me..." Oliver joked, chuckling. His attempt at making her laugh failed, because tears lined her eyes.

"I love you," Lilly said quietly, breathing heavily on every word, trying to fight tears.

"Well, I love you too, Lil," Oliver replied.

"No! Just shut up and let me finish!" She exclaimed, taking him aback. His eyes grew wide at her outburst, but he said nothing.

"I don't love you the way you love me! I don't love you the way I'm supposed to! The way a girl is supposed to love her best friend! I'm in love with you, Oliver. When I hit that car, it made me think of how if something bad happened to me...I wouldn't be with you. That thought scares the hell out of me...All I want is to be with you...always. I love you," Lilly valiantly said, a few tears escaping her ocean-blue eyes.

Oliver's mouth hung open slightly, but he didn't wear an expression of surprise. He smiled and cupped her cheek with his palm.

"If all that's true, then...you do love me the way I love you," Oliver impressed upon her, ignoring her vividly amorous expression.

He leaned down and found her lips with his the way he'd always wanted to. Though this time, there was no chance of her shrinking away from him. In fact, wrapping her arms around his neck, she responded with such enthusiasm that she pulled him down further than he'd intended.

And, for the moment that she was kissing Oliver, Lilly forgot that there was such a thing as car accidents, let alone the fact that she'd been in one.

Was this a signal of her life to come? Would comfort and love from Oliver make her forget every bad thing in her life?

Oh, she could not wait to fill Miley in on her day...

**A/N:** Ohhh, just a little Loliver diddy. I hadn't done one in SUCH a long time, so I mentally (and physically) slapped myself and forced some inspiring thoughts into my mind last night. And, I am happy to report that method is legit!! Well, it worked for me, anyway.

So...love ya Lollipops! (LOL, that's my nickname for supporters of Loliver!!) Ciao!!

**xoxo Trishy**


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